Heavy tables laden with meals are typically the norm for this time of 12 months.
From gut-busting three programs to choice containers and cheeses galore – t’is the season for having fun with all of your favourite foods with not one of the guilt.
However what occurs when all of that pretty meals turns into only a bit an excessive amount of for the desk – and our appetites?
Too full to eat, however too good to throw away, in case you retailer your Christmas dinner leftovers fastidiously within the fridge you possibly can nonetheless benefit from the flavours of Christmas Day over the next days of the festive interval.
Right here is the lowdown on easy methods to safely retailer your leftovers so no-one is left poorly over Christmas:
Roast with essentially the most: Lisa Goodwin-Allen’s Christmas turkey at The Sport Hen
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Leftovers needs to be lined and saved within the fridge or freezer inside two hours of cooking, however no meals needs to be eaten if it has been left standing at room temperature for greater than two hours.
You’ll be able to assist leftover turkey, ham and different meat calm down by eradicating legs and reducing meat into smaller items, that means it’ll cool faster and you will get it within the fridge earlier than it spoils.
The Food Standards Agency say it’s actually necessary to not put meals within the fridge or freezer when it’s nonetheless heat, as a result of it may end in individuals getting sick after they eat that meat and the opposite foods surrounding it.
When the meat has cooled, it needs to be saved in an hermetic container and put within the fridge to be eaten inside three days.
If you’re reheating, meat and stuffing can solely be reheated as soon as.
If you’re desirous to freeze, put them in a container appropriate in your freezer. Cooked meat will maintain within the freezer for as much as six months.
Potatoes and different greens
Fry leftover roasties with cabbage and onion for scrumptious bubble and squeak
Meals Community UK
If you end up with a lot of leftover veg, there’s no higher manner to make use of them up than bubble and squeak. It’s straightforward, quick, extremely yummy, and tremendous nutritious.
Merely combine all of it up and get it within the frying pan.
However, if you wish to retailer it earlier than recooking, the principles are barely completely different with vegetables and also you get a bit extra time.
Leftover greens saved in an hermetic container will normally maintain as much as every week within the fridge. Cooked canned greens like beans or different legumes can final to 10 days with correct storage.
Greens with a excessive water content material, similar to sprouts and cabbage, don’t are likely to freeze effectively as soon as cooked.
However potatoes, carrots, and parsnips all freeze effectively and maintain their texture able to be loved a second time. Offering they’re frozen accurately and wrapped up correctly, they’re nice to cook dinner once more.
It isn’t Christmas with no good cheeseboard.
After getting reduce into a brand new cheese, be sure you maintain it contained in an hermetic storage field.
Cheese is greatest saved on the backside of the fridge, the place it isn’t too chilly. It needs to be correctly wrapped in foil or wax paper.
The more durable the cheese, the longer it’ll keep recent – as much as a month. Semisoft cheeses will normally be wonderful for a number of weeks. Minimize items of soppy cheese will final for lower than two weeks.
Cheese might be frozen however consultants at The Splendid Table say: “Cheese suffers enormously from being frozen, so merely get the notion out of your head.”
The overall rule for leftover cheese is tough cheeses final six months if unopened and three to 4 weeks as soon as opened. Shredded laborious cheeses final a month after opening, whereas smooth cheeses final round every week and cream cheese two weeks.